“But now, a small nation apparently has a cache of nuclear missiles, and the gods alone know how old they are. But I am willing to agree that they will work, so long as this body agrees that we know nothing of the intent of the owners of the missiles. China and Russia had no love for Japan, and we lived with the threat. The United States was supposedly an ally, and we lived with their weapons of destruction, even though they were the ones who murdered our children in the war.” Kurita was surprised that Yoshida had righteous anger in his repertory, but then realized it was another diplomatic tool, just like a smile or handshake. “Yet now a nation that has offered no proof of hostile intent, no desire to hurt us, just a desire to live, just as we desire to, has managed to come into the possession of weapons of nuclear war. And while I agree that they are dirty and cursed machines, they cannot harm us without a malevolent nation to use them. And no facts have crossed this table attesting to the intent of the Greater Manchurians. I propose we simply ask the Greater Manchurians to remove the weapons. If they do, we can sell them military hardware, helping our economy and keeping them secure so they won’t have to rely on the missiles. If they keep the weapons, we can expose them to the world and ask for UN help. Eventually the warheads would be turned over and destroyed in accordance with the Nuclear Free Zone Treaty. The crisis would be averted and we would lead our lives as before. Amend that — better than before, because by our actions we will show the world our moral character. And that may help to end this destructive trade embargo by the West.” There was silence in the room for some minutes after Yoshida spoke. “Mr. Prime Minister, I’d like to say a few words, if I may.”
“Please go ahead, General Gotoh.”
“Minister Yoshida is entirely correct in his concerns about the intentions of Greater Manchuria. His proposal to ask the Greater Manchurians to remove the weapons has merit.” Kurita did not expect an opening toward Yoshida from his opposite number in the council. “In fact, what we are proposing has elements of Minister Yoshida’s idea.”
Gotoh had the room’s members entirely focused, in spite of the fact that the meeting had gone into its third hour. “There are several possible uses for these missiles. As we have discussed, one use is for a preemptive strike against Japan. But another purpose is deterrence.
Holding back the aggressions of the Russians, the East Chinese and the West Chinese, and theoretically the aggressions of Japan. I am getting ahead of our meeting agenda, and for that I apologize. The next order of business was to be — what should Japan do about these missiles? I will introduce that question now, because it addresses Minister Yoshida’s concerns. “Let us assume for a moment that the missiles are present for the purposes of deterrence. I personally do not believe this, because a nuclear deterrent only works if the enemy knows the weapons are there and operational. These missiles are secret. But let us go beyond that and recognize that there is a way for us to neutralize these missiles without the world knowing about them. We can surgically knock out these missiles while still letting Greater Manchuria bluff her neighbors into thinking she has a nuclear strike force. “Again, I am arguing a point of logic I do not believe, because Greater Manchuria has kept these missiles a deep secret, but we can say for Minister Yoshida that there could always be plans to announce the presence of these missiles, turning them ”nto a deterrent force. We have a way of striking these weapons so that they will be neutralized forever, in a way that there will be no telltale sign that the neutralization has come from us.” The room was silent. Kurita addressed Gotoh. “General, you seem to be saying that we can blow up these missiles and destroy them, but in such a way that no one will link the raid to Japan, is that correct?”
“Very close, sir. We can strike the missiles and make them useless. There will be no explosions. The missiles will not be physically destroyed but they will no longer be offensive weapons.”
